The Show Must Go On
by the-stretch-beyond-spandex
Summary: It was her stupid crush that landed Wanda, Kate, Billy and Pietro their fate, it was her fault that she couldn't attack Kang, because he looked so much like Nate- Iron Lad - that it hurt, and so it was naturally her fault when Tommy just lost it. AU.


**Title: **The Show Must Go On**  
****Characters:** Young Kang, Cassie and Tommy.**  
****Prompt:** Inspired from the Marvel Kink Prompt on LJ, I just got rid of the kink and made something else. I always need something to work off.  
**Warning:** Loads of swearing, maybe?  
**A/N:** Just some random thing I thought of. Eh, anythings better than the Pietro/Magneto I'm writing :/

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Nathaniel stood over the fallen Cassie, a cruel smile radiating his face as he crouched down to her height. "Well, well, well..." he whispered into her ear, his hot breath making Cassie cringe away, not wanting to look at the man she thought she loved and what he had turned into. "The little blondie with size changing abilities. How...cute." he snickered, his foot pressing into her chest, making her breath already more labored then it was previously.

"W-what-" she coughed up some red and sickening blood which received another cruel grin from Nate. "-do you _want?_" she put all the power she could in the last word as she could feel her energy escaping. The blood she had previously coughed up was trickling down her face and it surprised her when Nate's finger traced her jaw, not lovingly, but in a sick and twisted way. His finger touched the blood and Cassie whimpered when he withdrew it and licked it off his finger. She felt something rise in her throat.

"What do _I _want?" he laughed in a tinkling tone, standing up and kicking her slightly in the side, rolling her body over so she could see the bodies of her team mates scattered across the ruins of Avengers Tower. She didn't even know if they were alive or not. And she hoped with all her heart that they were. "I want _you_."

Cassie coughed yet again, more blood tickling from her mouth. "You don't even know who I am..." she whispered, trying to make her way up from her face-down position. "Do you?

Nate shrugged, pacing up and down the ruins, inspecting the bodies that layed there one by one. "That's the thing, isn't it? I don't." he said as he walked over to what she presumed from the green costume and shocking white hair, was Tommy's. "Ooh, look this ones still alive." he laughed as Tommy tried to sit up with a strangled groan only to be pushed down again from behind with the force of Nate's foot pressing into his back. The speedster _she_ knew wouldn't put up with that. "Pity though, his brother or even his mother would've been more of use to me. But, what can you do about it? Only the fittest survive."

"Then why am I here?" she whispered. "You said you were going to kill me first."

Before Nate opened his mouth, a growl came from not far away. "It should of been _you_." Tommy snarled as he sat up. He looked terrible, is costume, skin and his white hair were stained with the scarlet blood of god knows who. "Not, Kate. _You_."

Tommy closed his eyes and simply cried. His shifted so that he was on his knees and he put his head in his hands, tearing at his white hair, sobs wrecking through his body.

And then Nate laughed.

The look on Cassie's face was hard to determine. Wether it was regret, love, sorrow and whatever emotion was leading her on, she knew it was all her fault. It was her who desired to get the Avengers and Young Avengers to stop Kang once and for all, it was her and her stupid crush which didn't make sense through the time stream that landed Wanda, Kate, Billy and Pietro their fate, it was her fault that she couldn't attack Kang, because he looked so much like Nate- Iron Lad - that it hurt, and so it was naturally her fault when Tommy just lost it.

He crawled over to Cassie's side, with obvious hurt and not because he wanted to see how she was, but to pull her up by the collar of her torn costume and yell at her. Scream and shake her body until something happened that could ease his pain. But nothing would. Tommy was a complex person, and now one could heal from this.

"I hate you!" he spat at her, combined with the blood running from the sword gash on his face sending a sick feeling to Cassie. Cassie hung her head down, taking the blame. "I. HATE. YOU!" he screamed again, yelling because he could. Yelling because it wouldn't make a difference. And yelling because Nate Richards was still smiling, watching them with a smirk that made Tommy want to run over to him and punch his face in. "You had to take away _everything_ I ever loved!"

"It wasn't me who killed them." Cassie mumbled. "Tommy, just-"

"_You_ brought us here!" he continued yelling. "You wanted to get fucking _Kang the fucking Conqueror_ in bed with you when you _know _he honestly doesn't give a shit!" he threw Cassie to the ground, the pain from the impact waking her from her day dream where Iron Lad held her and kissed her.

"Is that so?" Nate said, walking over and sitting on the ground next to them. "I don't give a shit about what?" he smiled innocently, the bodies of fallen heroes in the background not affecting him in any way.

"Cassie frickin Lang." Tommy snarled at Nate in reply. "Just kill her and get it over and done with will you? No one wants _her_. The only person who wanted her was someone who doesn't have an actual soul and the guy who turned out to be a psychopath." he stood up with obvious pain and made his way over to the pile of bodies, going to see if anyone was still alive at all. He wanted Billy to be alive, he wanted his mum to hold him, he wanted Kate to take him back. And most likely none of that was going to happen.

As soon as Tommy turned his back, Nate drew his gun from behind him at shot the speedster in the back, the silver and green crumpling to the ground in a flash. He just...fell. Just like that. No fight. There was no one to run to him, no one to ask if he was okay. His mother, uncle and brother were somewhere, most probably dead, The Avengers were a disaster, the X-Men were facing a threat worse than a decimation and as of now, the Young Avengers were disassembled. All because of Cassie.

Cassie choked back a sob. _What have I done? Why is it all my fault? _"You killed him!" she shouted, trying to make her way over to the last team mate she ever thought she'd cry over. Tommy Shepherd was an asshole, and that was putting it lightly, but somewhat a lovable one. Cassie felt a shooting pain hit her in the chest. _Her heart._

"Nah," Nate rolled his eyes, sitting next to her on the floor. "I run out of fricken bullets. It's a stun dart. He'll come back into consciousness in a minute." Cassie sighed in relief, she really didn't need another death on her shoulders. "So," he continued. "You want me, eh?" Nate winked as he ran a hand up her thigh, killing people obviously something he was used to. "I don't even know your name."

"But you did." Cassie grabbed Nate's face with the little energy she had left and made him stare at her. "Don't you remember me, Nate? At all?" she pleaded, looking into the blue mask that didn't suit the teen. "_You _don't know that you love me, but I _know_ that you do."

Suddenly, Nate fell forward with a thunk and stopped moving, clearly knocked out. Shocked, Cassie looked up to see a dead looking Tommy holding a piece of what looked like Avengers Tower in his hands. "Someone needed to show him who the number one badass is." he said, throwing the piece of metal aside and sitting down next to Cassie. "I hate to ask something that goes against all my morals...but are you okay?"

She nodded, trying to ignore the pain in her chest. "I'm sorry, Tommy, for _everything_."

"You should be." Tommy cast a gloomy look over to the piles of bodies. "Come on, let's go see who's still alive. You know, I'm never going to forgive you. Ever. First the Civil War and then _this_."

"I don't blame you."

"But the show must go on, right?"

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_~End~_


End file.
